Military and intelligence officials discuss smaller presence in the Middle East as US looks for another post-9/11 strategy
For the CIA and the military’s elite special operations command, some officials have considered whether the same sensitive jobs can be done without permanent basing, according to two US officials: leave personnel and equipment stationed in the United States, send them to the Middle East for individual missions, then return home.
The military has developed several potential courses of action for changing the US force structure in the Middle East as soon as next year, two of the sources said — noting it would not make sense to abandon those strategic locations for launching aircraft while the conflict is ongoing.
The US military started dramatically increasing its footprint in the Middle East in the years before 9/11, maintaining a presence of roughly 27,000 active-duty troops across the region starting in 1998 — significantly more than in the decades prior.
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